Summer Time Has Been Busy!

Summer has gone by really fast.

I have hatched out three sets of chicks and I am 

getting ready for another set of eggs to arrive.

My oldest group of Barred Hollands are close to the lay point 

so I should be getting eggs any day now.

I can't wait to see if they are white.

  (They are suppose to be white according to breed standards)

My sister and I have been busy working on our Mary Jane Badges.  We

have had lots of fun and have earned a good many of them.

We were really excited last last when we found out that 

Mary Jane featured us in her weekly blog.

This is a copy of her post with a click link to her blog.

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

This week is very special. I have TWO Merit Badge Awardees of the week. And to top it off, they’re sisters! How cool is that? Siblings working together on Sisterhood Merit Badges.

                                                      

I am pleased to announce that Lily and Alice Holland (Young Cultivators of Suzanne Holland #828) have earned a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning their Expert Level Icing on the Cake Merit Badge!

                                                  Mary Jane's Farm

Lily: “With my sister and mom, I picked out a recipe to follow for the cake and icing. My sister and I agreed that we wanted to be sure and use lots of our own chicken eggs.

We drew up designs for our cakes and took a list of ingredients to the store. We purchased the ingredients that we needed and came home to begin baking.

My mom and sister and I used all of our fresh ingredients to make our yummy cakes. We mixed them together carefully in my mom’s big mixer. It is so much fun cooking in my mom’s kitchen.

The cakes turned out perfect. We will let them cool and then carefully cut the tops off for a nice fit. Now they are ready to decorate.

Mine was decorated different from my sister’s. I couldn’t wait to eat mine and I cut it straight away. I decorated it mostly with nuts and some dried fruit. I used the same yummy buttercream icing.

This is my favorite cake. I really like to cook. My mom lets us get in the kitchen and cook all the time. We just need to clean up after ourselves.”

Alice: “I worked with my mom and sister to decide on a cake recipe and what kind of fruits and nuts I wanted on my cake. We have chickens, so I knew I wanted to use a cake recipe that used lots of eggs. I found one that both my sister and I liked.

We made a list and went to the store to purchase the ingredients we did not have on hand.

Using our chickens’ eggs and only the freshest ingredients, my mom, sister, and I started making our cakes. It is a lot of fun baking in my mom’s kitchen. She has great equipment and plenty of room.

The cakes turned out perfect. Now we have to let them cool. Trim the tops, and then ice and decorate after letting them cool. We trimmed the tops so they would sit straight when stacked and then we began icing. We used a buttercream icing made with real butter. It was soooo good.

I decorated mine with my own design that I had drawn out. I used nuts and dried fruit. It was a really yummy cake and my family said they loved it.”

The Young Cultivator (kids 6-13) and Farmerette (teens 13-17) programs are free for kids to earn Merit Badges as long as they are mentored by a Farmgirl Sisterhood member. Go to our Merit Badge Website, or e-mail meritbadges@maryjanesfarm.org for more information.

Lily and I have had so much fun with Mary Jane this summer 

earning badges. We are still working on new badges and will continue 

to work on them even after school starts.

Mary Jane's Farm

  Mary Jane's Farm is a sisterhood that you can join. My Mom is a member. You're able to earn badges by doing things like recycling things from around your house. When you're done doing that, you take a picture of what you've done, send it in, then you get a badge.  Mary Jane's Farm also has a program for young ladies. It is called Young Cultivators. You do things like, learn how to organize, survival techniques, gardening, and even the "art of grass whistling".  It's not just about gardening, it teaches you about everyday life things.  I having lots of fun working on earning my badges.  I think any girl would love doing this.

A Big Mothers Day!

Mothers Day was really big this year at my house.

On Sat afternoon the baby Barred Hollands started pipping 

on their eggs.  We waited and waited, but none of them hatched out.

They took lots of naps though......hatching out is hard work.

My mom and I stayed up late Saturday night watching them pip away.

I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch.

Then at 1:45 am my mom woke me up to let me know that the first little guy

had broken through his shell and was looking around.  I could hear him tweeting

up a storm so I jumped up to go see.

The cutest ever!!!

My stayed up all night to make sure all four peeps made it through.

  Of course one waited until Breakfast to hatch out.

 

Chicks just beginning to pip through

Making more progress after a nap

Now really getting down to business 

I am ready to face the world

This really Hard!

I am upside down

Get this shell off of me!

I can stretch --at last

Come on Buddy get up

OK world here I am

Little friends togther

All dry and fluffy

Cute Barred Holland Chicks
DOB-May 12,2013
Happy Mothers Day!

The Count Down!!!

The Count Down Has Begun!!!!

In less than three days our new family members will be here.

The eggs started rocking back and forth several days ago.

It was so weird.  We were standing next to the incubator and 

I noticed it first, then my mom.  My oldest brother, Andrew walked up 

and said "Why are the eggs rocking back and forth?"

Those little guys are ready to make an entrance and move into 

bigger living quarters.

I started out with seven fertile eggs, sent to me by Sue from the Pocket Farmer

My Brinsea incubator holds seven eggs.

Shipping fertile eggs is risky.  So many things can happen to keep the eggs from

hatching out.  At the first candling, I learned that one egg did not start the development stage.

That could be for any number of reasons. Not fertile, damaged in shipping somehow 

or compromised by bacteria.  I removed that egg.  

The six remaining eggs were candled at 10 day. All looked great accept for

 two that were developing but not at the same rate.

I left them in and decided to check on them a little later on.

Day 18 and time to check the "rocking" eggs.

The two eggs in question were indeed in trouble.  One developed a chick but the chick died 

early. I am not sure why.  The other egg, started developing and then stopped.

   The other four are strong and ready to hatch.  

I can not wait to meet them!

Day Six Update

Over the weekend my mom

help me candle my Barred Holland eggs.

It was very exciting to see how the peeps were

doing inside their shells.

I have a special light that I use to candle the eggs.

It is very bright, but lets off "cool" light so the peeps

are not hurt.  I carefully take one egg at a time

from the incubator and hold the light to the bottom

of the egg.  My mom helps me with this and we 

wait until night time when it is dark.

I have seven eggs in my incubator.  When you have 

eggs shipped through the mail, you have to 

understand that not ALL of the eggs are going to hatch.

It is rough on the eggs bouncing around in the mail 

with the different air temps. and pressures.

I only hatched out three Buff Orpingtons 

for my first hatch.   

But that is why you candle the eggs, to see how they are doing.

So far, only one is looks like it did not develop at all.  

I have included pics. from online of egg candling. One of a 

good egg at six days and one of a bad egg at six days.

This is a Good Egg --see the veins and
the Peep?

This is a Bad Egg--No Veins..No Peep

Holland Eggs in Incubator

Ok the eggs are in the incubator.

The count down has begun.

My mom will help me candle them Friday 

evening which will make day five.

I will do an update to let you know how they are 

coming along.

I have a Brinsea seven egg Incubator

It provides the perfect place for the growing chick inside the egg

Barred Holland eggs are white.  That is a determining factor of whether they meet the
"Standard" or not.  The "Standard" for all regconized  breeds can
be found in the Standard of Perfection Book   which is
like a chicken breeders (especially if you show chickens) bible.

I have more tid- bits of interest about the Holland breed, but
 I will share it little at a time.
So stay tuned.

Barred Hollands

I went to "Show" for the first time this year with 4-H.

It was fun and I really did learned so much.

But I realized as I looked through this book (The Standard of Perfection)

that many of the breeds were not being shown.

Then as I my mom and I really started looking online we realized that most 

people like to show popular breeds and the other ones are dying out.

We started looking at the critical list (chickens with less than a thousand nation wide).

And....We found "The Holland"

Holland Chicken

In 1934 white eggs brought premium prices at market because it was believed that white eggs had a finer, more delicate flavor. At that time most of America’s eggs were produced on small farms all across the country, and small farmers preferred dual-purpose chickens as these provide a source of meat as well as eggs. Since dual-purpose chicken breeds tend to lay brown eggs, and white egg-laying breeds available at the time were light-weight and not well fleshed, this prompted Rutgers Breeding Farms to set about producing a dual-purpose breed that would lay white eggs – resulting in the Holland.
You may wonder why an American breed of chicken is called “Holland.” The answer lies in the ancestry of the breed. Breeders began with light-weight stock originally imported from Holland, and mated it with White Leghorn, Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire, and Lamona. Through careful selection the White Holland was created. Simultaneously, the Barred Holland was created by mating White Leghorn, Barred Plymouth Rock, Australorp, and Brown Leghorn. The breed was admitted to the American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection in 1949.
Hollands have earned a good reputation as being ideally suited to farm conditions. They are good foragers with calm temperaments. The breed is fairly cold tolerant, though during periods of extreme cold the males may suffer some frostbite to their single combs. The hens can become broody and will sometimes raise their own offspring. Hollands also tend to have a slow to moderate growth rate. But this fact must be weighed against their ability to rustle a significant portion of their own food.
In its time, the Barred Holland was much more popular with the farmers than was the White Holland. This may have been because of the popularity of the Barred Plymouth Rock, or it may have been for the practical reason that a chicken with a pattern is less likely to suffer predation than a white chicken. The less popular White Holland may well be extinct now.
While the Holland has never enjoyed widespread popularity, it is an excellent choice for homesteaders or use on small acreages. These chickens have yellow skin and legs, so will produce a carcass with the skin color most Americans favor. The Holland will produce plenty of medium-large white eggs, and one can enjoy the fact that they are helping to conserve what is likely the rarest, living breed of American chicken.


My first batch of Hollands came two weeks ago from a breeder in New York.
I have eggs coming this week from Sue at the  Pocket Farmer  and
they will go into the incubator this weekend.  In 21 days I will
 hopefully hatch my second group of Hollands.

The Buffs Begin

Rosie was my first Buff Orpington. 

She has a Fluffy back side and a wonderful chicken-ality.

She is very sweet and fat....and Arthur R E A L L Y   likes her,

so much so that I had to have my mom make her an apron to wear.

But....Rosie was a lone Buff Orpington in my flock, standing there all

 gold and fluffy.  She needed to have her numbers multiplied.

With my mom and dad's help, I was able to buy a Brinsea Incubator, purchase 

some fertile eggs from a breeder.

My first hatching was this past Friday April  12, 2013. 

Three fluffy Buff Orpingtons Hatched.  

Not a big hatch I know. My incubator holds seven eggs and I knew 

that not all of them would hatch.  Shipping the eggs lowers the hatch rate, I have 

heard.  I let them rest for 18 hrs. according to the Brinsea directions.  

I think maybe I should have let them rest for 24 - 48 hrs.  

This week, Ms. Sue from The Pocket Farmer  is sending me Barred Holland eggs.

This will be my second hatch. I received my first batch of Barred Holland Biddies two weeks

ago and that began my Holland Project.
More to come on that.

Buff Orpington Egg

First to Pip Through

Here She Comes!

What a Beauty!

Fluffy and Perfect!
Rosie will be so excited!

My Journey Starts

The first Chicken House!

My dad took an old play house and converted it into a chicken house for my first flock.  Arthur (my New Hampshire) and the girls, just love it.

Arthur is a great Roo. He takes his job very seriously.  I did learn something very important about Arthur during
 the 4-H shows.

He does not like being away from his "girls".  He was so unhappy. 

When we got home from show, he didn't want anyone to come near him or the girls for a couple of days.  He settled down.  

We will not put him through that again.
I love my chickens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arthur